About Essential

Trading since 1971, Essential Trading is one of the largest worker co-operatives in the UK, and a proud pioneer of the wholefood market. Essential Trading wholesales, manufactures and distributes vegetarian wholefoods across the UK and beyond. The business specialises in ethically produced, organic, Fairtrade and ‘free from' food sourced from all corners of the globe; never by airfreight.

"We are particularly interested in provenance and sustainability. By collaborating with some of the finest brands and producers out there, including co-operatives like us, we are proud to bring you an innovative selection of ethical alternatives and health food products. Fully accredited since the origination of Organic and Fairtrade licensing, we pack commodities like rice and nuts here in our purpose-built facility in Bristol".

"Passionate about nutrition and taste, the emphasis here at Essential is on pure, healthy food and ethically assured fairly-traded products you can trust. The priority is authentic, top quality ingredients, packed with goodness and bursting with flavour. It is these pure ‘free from' products and devilishly tasty discoveries that give the Essential brand its distinct and very vibrant personality".

"As a co-operative, we have always had a strong belief in doing things our own way; the company is entirely owned and operated by its workers. We recently celebrated over four successful decades in business and there are valuable relationships and individuals here who mirror the company values - each in their own way. The company has a history of sticking to this ‘consciously different' ethos. For example, the range offers a 100% vegetarian/vegan and GMO-free guarantee, and the worker co-operative supports small producers and independent retailers; never selling to supermarkets".

The Essential brand itself includes around 900 product lines, and contains no artificial colours, flavours or modifiers. Everything is traceable, wholesome, packed with goodness. The range is packaged in bold, bright and distinctive designs that are full of character and reflect the passion behind the brand.

Essential Trading also wholesales over 400 other brands including exclusive artisan ranges and superfood health heroes. With over 5,500 lines of healthy options, quality nutrition and sustainable products - 80% of which are certified organic - this is food you can have faith in.

Essential Trading is committed to the welfare of the planet. In an effort to minimise its impact on the environment, a 44.64 kWp solar power electricity system was installed at its premises. 186 solar photovoltaic panels, mounted on the roof of the warehouse, use solar PV technology to capture the clean, natural energy of the sun and convert it into electricity for the factory, warehouse and offices. The solar panels at Essential generate approximately 38000 kWh of electricity per year, representing a saving of approximately 513 tonnes of CO2 over 25 years.

Essential take away all the hard work of sourcing authentically natural, flavoursome, sustainable food.

Firstly, thank you for your custom. However, I am writing to let you know that unfortunately we are suspending the Ethically Essential service. We intend to re-launch our online shop on a different platform as soon as possible but for now, we are choosing to focus on what we do best- wholesaling. So, our advice for the time being is to check your local independent health food shop for our products (you will not find us in supermarkets on principle). We also offer delivery to buying groups of several households- a great way to save money on your shopping and to minimise on unnecessary packaging: more info about minimum orders for buying groups on our website http://www.essential-trading.coop/ (click on ‘our services' and select buying groups from the drop down menu).

We will let you know by email when you can begin to use our new and improved service for buying online.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience. Thank you again for your custom and we hope you will continue to enjoy Essential products via other platforms.